Jury awards $43M to Essex woman paralyzed in crash

Award said to be largest in Vermont state court history

Jul. 1, 2013

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

A 51-year-old Essex Junction woman has won a $43.1 million jury verdict against the manufacturer of a car seat that allegedly collapsed on her during a 2007 car accident, rendering her a paraplegic.

The amount awarded Dzemila A. Heco in her lawsuit against the car seat maker, Johnson Controls Inc. of Milwaukee is believed to be the biggest jury verdict in state court in Vermont history.

“I’m quite sure it’s the largest,” said Jerome O’Neill, a veteran Burlington trial litigator and former assistant U.S. attorney for Vermont.

The jury reached its verdict Friday evening after two weeks of trial and seven hours of deliberation. The file in the case was 14 folders thick and included 1,500 exhibits, according to Carmen Cote, a Chittenden Superior Court clerk.

An attorney for Heco said Monday that she and her family would not comment on the outcome of the case.

“Although many hurdles need to be overcome before the case is over, any money the family recovers will be put into a trust to care for Dzemila,” lawyer Robin Curtiss of Orford, N.H., said.

A spokesman for Johnson Controls indicated Monday the company was “evaluating its options” in the case and was considering an appeal.

“Johnson Controls disagrees with the jury’s conclusions,” Fraser Engerman, the spokesman, said in a statement. “We believe that the seat was not at fault. Its design significantly exceeded all government and industry safety standards, as well as Chrysler’s own specifications. Johnson Controls stands behind the safety of all of its products.”

The case sprang from an Aug. 4, 2007, accident on Vermont 15 in Essex town when Heco’s car, a 2000 Dodge Neon, was struck from behind by a vehicle driven by Nwakaego Ekwauabu, then 17, of Jericho.

According to a police accident report, Ekwauabu said she fell asleep just before striking Heco’s car as Heco was waiting at a red light to turn into a PriceChopper grocery store parking lot. Ekwauabu’s car was believed to be traveling 35 mph when the crash occurred.

Court papers filed by Heco’s lawyers contend the car seat back collapsed on her when the wreck occurred, causing severe spinal-cord injuries. Heco was wearing a seat belt at the time.

The case initially listed 33 codefendants when it was filed in 2010. By 2012, all but Johnson Controls and Midstate Dodge were dismissed; Midstate Dodge later settled out of court with the Hecos, according to court records.

Johnson Controls formerly operated an automobile battery manufacturing plant in Bennington that employed 270 people. The firm shut down the plant in 1994.

Curtiss, Heco’s lawyer, said Heco is a refugee from Bosnia who escaped Sarajevo with her two sons after her husband was killed. Heco and her sons made their way to the United States and then to Vermont in 1995.

“She and her boys arrived with nothing, but she worked three jobs for years so her sons could get an education,” Curtiss said. “Representing this incredible family has been a privilege and an honor.”